Pages

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Lemons and Limes

I MADE A QUILT!

For the first time in nearly a year, I actually completed a human sized quilt. Granted, it's baby human size, but it still counts. I was beginning to worry the DCMQG would revoke my membership if I didn't make a quilt soon - I've brought my knitting to last the 4 or 5 meetings.... But thankfully Mr. T's sister had a baby, so I had a perfect reason to break my dry spell. We went to meet the new niece last weekend, so the last few weeks have been a mad rush to finish the quilt so I could hand deliver it.

After much consideration and deliberation, I decided on the Tangerine Dream pattern from Issue 7 of Quilty. [Sidenote: Actually using a pattern from one of my many books and magazines felt like an achievement in and of itself]. Mr. T's sister and her husband decided not to find out the sex of the baby, so I immediately went to my tried and true yellow and green gender neutral combination. It seems so old fashioned to feel stuck to yellow and green, but I actually really like them together so I decided it didn't care.

Sweet baby Rayna. I can't wait until she's older and can come visit us! Also, she must have been burning up! It was about 70 degrees in Houston and she was covered by no less than 3 blankets. I didn't leave this one on very long - just for a few photos - but still. I was warm in my t-shirt!

The majority of the fabrics are from my stash, but I did pick up a couple more during a guild meeting at Capital Quilts, including the pearl bracelets, the lady bugs, the bees, and, my personal favorite, the trees.

I really wanted to free motion quilt it, but I was on a tight deadline and I'm not a very experienced FMQer. Plus, I think I need a lesson in adjusting my machine's tension for free motion. No matter what I do, I inevitably get pulls on the back when doing a curved design (which is pretty much all of them...). Rather than waste time being frustrated and unhappy with the end result, I picked out the little sampling of FMQ I'd done and stuck with a wide crosshatch following the lines of the top.

In the end, I decided the quilt needed another little pop of color. Since she was born by the time I finished (err...started working on) the quilt and we obviously knew her sex, I added two little pops of pink to the binding. I tested a few other colors, but I really liked the way the bright pink contrasted with the top.

Blerg for blurry photos. Unfortunately I only took one, so it will have to do.

I also added an embroidered label for a little personal touch. I almost didn't have time to include this bit, but I'm really glad I managed. I think it makes the quilt just a hint more special.

On the back, I REALLY wanted to use this print from Anne Kelle's Urban Zoology print (so perfect!), but Mr. T gently reminded me that I'm watching my fabric budget and didn't I have anything in my stash that would work. Turns out I did. I'd bought this animal face flannel to back a quilt that I never ended up making, so I put it to use here. It's actually pretty cute, and the yellow and green coordinate nicely with the front. Some of the animals are a bit difficult to recognize (there's one that I can't decide if it's a cat or a chick), but maybe wee baby Rayna will have fun learning animals with her quilt...

I'm really not much of a baby/child person, but I kind of like this one. Especially those super pinchable cheeks.

Quilt Stats:

Quilt Name: Lemons and Limes (sticking with the citrus reference from the pattern)

Quilt Size: 41" x 41"
Pattern: Tangerine Dream - I sized each block down 4 inches and left off the borders